Reiteration
by Rikaruru
Summary: As the first day repeated, thoughts of confusion changed into thoughts of opportunity. Change and happiness fluttered through my mind and heart as I walked off of the train. At first...I considered it a blessing. I soon learned it wasn't. One-shot.


**I finally got a chance to post a story in the Persona category! Yayifications!**

**The fic's based off of my favorite picture of my favorite character. Link below~ (Remove spaces)**

**http:/ browse . deviantart . com/ ?qh=§ion;=&q= persona+minako# / d34oq26**

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At first, I considered it a blessing.

It was an alternate fate to an otherwise dismal "death." I knew exactly what was going to happen to me. I was to become the Seal preventing the death of mankind. Despite its need, it was essentially a fate worse than death to the person who's soul was the guard.

That didn't happen, though.

As the first day repeated, thoughts of confusion changed into thoughts of opportunity. Change and happiness fluttered through my mind and heart as I walked off of the train, not confused by the eerie darkness surrounding the street second time around. Even the thought of fighting cheered me up. Battling Shadows became a part of me throughout the year, so the thought of giving it up, though relieving, made me feel empty. Besides, nothing would catch me by surprise anymore, right?

I went on to change things. Nothing major, mind you. I've watched enough movies and read enough books to know that devastating the timeline with revelations and accusations was the quickest way to ruin a happy ending.

Hard as it was, I resisted simply grabbing my naginata and stabbing Ikutsuki straight through the heart. Blunt? Don't worry. I'm sure he didn't have one anyways. After what he put us all through…

No. I resisted. I changed small things.

I changed my Social Links a lot. Strengthening my Personae was no longer a real important thing to me, so Social Links were more purely my choice. I was a person's friend just to be their friend. During the first year, I spent countless nights crying, knowing that one of my friends needed help. They needed help and I had no time to help them. They needed help and I ignored them for other friends.

In the end, the strength of my Persona was the only thing that mattered. In the end, missing that meeting with Maiko…the one I'd promised for a month…was nothing compared to the risk of me being too weak to save her from being one of The Lost.

I knew the friend I helped…the ones I maxed Social Links with…I knew they would be strong enough to resolve things on their own. There were others I needed to help and I would do so now that I had a second chance.

One person in particular…Shinji…I saved him. The first year, I tended to stay away from the gruff senior. I got to know him little by little, but Akihiko stole my heart throughout the year.

I was too late the first year, though. By the time I finally started opening up to Shinji…and him to me, he died. It was as simple as that. I did my simple normal response in return. I put on a strong front and tried to cheer everyone up. I let Akihiko silently cry on my shoulder. I cried alone in my bed, wishing I could do something else.

I changed something. I changed something BIG. I saved a life. Not just someone's lifestyle and situation. I saved someone's life.

That would be the last time I felt that escalation. Mitsuru's father still died. Ikutsuki still betrayed us. Aigis was still nearly destroyed by Ryoji.

I let it all happen. I knew it would happen. Earlier in the year, I promised myself I wouldn't change the timeline. Now I regretted that decision. I regretted the fact that I let my friends fall into the depression that scarred December just as it did the year before.

Then…something new happened. Something I didn't expect. The friends I thought would pull through without me? A lot of them feel into depression. They were friends, yeah, but there was nothing I could do to help them. They didn't know me very well. I wasn't really a best friend. They didn't have one.

A simple revelation passed through my mind. I meant more to them than I realized. As pretentious as it sounds…the strength I thought they had? Well…it looks like I wasn't the only one who gained strength through Social Links.

With my life sinking into an equally deep depression, everything suddenly ended. Nyx returned and we came triumphant yet again. Again, I willingly sacrificed myself, content with my changed. Despite what I couldn't change, I was still proud of the things I did change. As my mind faded, I smiled, sincerely believing I made a net improvement to not only humanity, but my inner circle of friends.

…and then it happened again. Music blasted into my ears. It was time to repeat everything once more.

My heart sunk this time. What more could I actually do? Instead of opportunity, I thought of despair. I thought of all the things I couldn't prevent no matter how much I wanted to.

Year after year, it was an endless cycle. Ikutsuki…Strega…Shinji…all of my friends…all of the sadness they'd have to go through yet again.

That's where I was now. I wanted this to end. After ten years, I was going to make a drastic change.

I gripped my naginata tightly, a single tear running down my face.

"I'm glad to know you're crying over me, but it'll just make it harder, you know," Ryoji frowned as he stood in my room.

"I'm crying for a different reason," I said softly. I stabbed him straight through the heart. "They're tears of joy. I might finally have an escape."

Two months passed. Instead of apprehension to the death that approached the world, I welcomed it. I was a hypocrite, sure, but no one has gone through the emotional hell I'd been through.

Suddenly, the world ended.

Suddenly, music blasted through my ears one more.

I slammed my headphones against the ground of the train as hard as I could and fell to the fetal position in tears.

"You dropped something," a gentle voice tapped my shoulders. "These are nice headphones, I have a pair myself."

I looked up to see a blue-haired boy, my mind too blurred to recognize anything other than the fact that he was different. I'd never seen him on the train before.

"T-Thanks," I smiled, getting up and composing myself. "I'm Minako."

"Strange…my name's Minato. Minato Arisato."

'Well…that's different…" I said softly and with an actual genuine smile. Maybe for once…the year would be different. Maybe this person...almost sharing my exact name could even share my fate.

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**Hope you all enjoyed! I realize there's probably a lot minor…and hopefully not a lot of major… errors. The hardest part about fics like this is keeping your tense consistent, something I already know I failed at when I portrayed the time shift towards the end.**

**Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? Review and let me know if you want me to keep writing Persona!**


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